Pakistan

Now that Osama bin Laden has been found and killed, it's just a matter of time before the conspiracy theorists start coming out of the woodwork. I'm going to beat them to the punch and offer up these theories in advance. If you are a conspiracy theorist, consider this a favor — I've done the hard work for you.

So here they are, out of left field and in no particular order:

It wasn't really him — I mean, they apparently did a DNA test, but did you see it? Neither did I. Maybe bin Laden had already died somewhere in Afghanistan, or was presumed dead, and the US government just wanted bragging rights. The fact that they buried his body at sea means this theory isn't going to go away anytime soon. Photos of his body would help, however.

On Sunday night, nine passengers of Pakistani descent were removed from a United Airlines flight to Tampa, Florida, after one of them made a comment that alarmed another passenger. At first blush, this incident doesn't seem particularly unusual. Just another in a long string of incidents involving a careless comment and a slightly overzealous flight crew, right?

Except that the nine passengers were officers in the Pakistani military, on their way to a meeting at the invitation of US Centcom. At the time of writing, most news outlets in the United States were reporting only that "nine foreign-born people" were tossed off a plane. The full story can be had by scouring the international press. Dawn.com, a Pakistani newspaper site, reports that a brigadier traveling with the delegation "had misbehaved with a stewardess and told her that 'this would be her last mission'". The article goes on to say that the delegation was held for hours without a clear explanation of what had prompted their expulsion from the airplane.… Continues …